Detroit by Night
by Taii44
Summary: Based on a campaign of VtM V20. The story of Aster (my character) and her adventures in Detroit.
1. The Meeting

Detroit- the murder capital of the United States. A city drenched in blood and filth, urban decay and desolation. Murders, disappearances, assaults- nothing was off the table here if you were not careful enough and no one would bat an eye. A city like this was the perfect home for vampires- they stalked the nightlife of the city, adding bodies to the already existing numbers. And it was the city that Aster currently called home.

Aster was unusual- even for being a vampire. She had only recently moved to Detroit, following some information that her sire was nearby. Once she had arrived in the city, she quickly went to work using her resources and money she had saved up to open a tattoo shop to hopefully bring in some funds and for her enjoyment- tattoos were something any vampire could do, sure, but only vampires like Aster could make it a permanent thing when it was done on another vampire. It was something special she could do and profit from. Plus, she just enjoyed doing art- whether it be on a body or paper, she didn't care. Aster was also a very solitary vampire, which was unusual for vampires in the Sabbat. She preferred to keep to herself, not joining any packs or running with any particular groups. In fact, in the last city she had lived in, she had made a deal with the local Bishop to be excluded from most Sabbat related-things in exchange for her "services". Aster was a fleshcrafter, a master in the art of Vicissitude. She could take anyone's flesh and change them practically any way she wanted- which is why her tattoos would stay permanently on a vampire's body. However, she hadn't made such a deal with anyone in this city, yet. She had barely presented herself to the local Bishop- something that she knew was rude to do but she was too focused on getting herself settled first. She had no plans to leave this city any time soon, not until she found her sire.

Aster was busy at work in her shop, it was a surprisingly busy night. She didn't run the place alone, of course, she had a ghoul named Needles- he was sweet and kind, stupid as all hell, but he got shit done and that's what Aster liked. She wasn't overly kind to him, often giving him cold and short responses, but there was a reason for that- she didn't want him to get too attached to her, as ghouls usually did. But he did his job, helped her with some non-work related things (usually disposing of bodies after her meals) and didn't question her so Aster didn't mind having him around. She was in the middle of a pretty complex tattoo some big, badass biker asked for when she heard Needles call out to her as he entered the room she was in:

"Uhhh… Aster, can you come up here?"

Aster sighed, straightening up and placing her tattoo gun on a nearby tray, looking over at Needles as she pulled her gloves off. "What is it?"

Needles shifty uncomfortably as he looked at her- Aster knew he was scared of her and the thought brought a smile to her face. He cleared his throat and said, "Well… uh there's, uh, a c-customer here that, uh, wants to see you specifically." He looked away from her as if he was expecting her to hit him.

Aster rolled her eyes, looking back to the biker and muttering "Give me a moment." before pushing past Needles and into the main waiting area of her shop. There she saw a man who was looking around the shop with a curious look on his face. He seemed not to notice her as she walked into the room. Aster placed a hand on her hip, staring at him before she cleared her throat loudly and said "Can I help you?"

The man turned to her, and she noticed some things about him that were… off. His face was almost feral looking, as if he had been living in the woods his entire life and was way too friendly with the animals there. His eyes were hidden by sunglasses, which he tilted down to speak to her, and she noticed that they were almost like wolf eyes. _Ah, I see_ She knew almost immediately what he was, though she had no idea what he wanted. The man smiled, his crooked, jagged and sharp teeth showing as he said "There is a meeting tonight. Required. I'm here to take you." His voice was low and somewhat growly, as if he either didn't speak often or it was raw from yelling of some type- Aster wasn't sure which.

Aster tilted her head, attempting to look confused "A meeting?" She was playing dumb, hoping that this vampire would think he had the wrong person and leave- she had no interest in going to a meeting, she really just wanted to be left alone. However, it seemed this vampire wasn't going to take no for an answer. He gestured to her door and said "Ya, a meeting. Let's go. Now. You don't want to keep the Bishop waiting."

Aster sighed and shrugged, "Guess I have no option here- let me tell my employee I'm leaving." She said, turning and walking back into the room she had just walked out of. She looked to her client, who looked utterly confused, and she shook her head at him "Sorry, but it looks like you'll have to come back- family emergency came up, you know how it is. Needles here will finish up with wrapping the piece for now so it doesn't get ruined- come back tomorrow night or something." The biker shrugged in reply.

Aster then walked over to her mirror and looked at herself, making sure she looked presentable. Her jet-black hair was a bit of a mess, but that was normal. She had incredibly short hair, shaved on one side and the rest of it was flipped over. It had a blue tint to it that was beautiful in the sunlight- too bad that would never be seen as long as Aster wanted to live. Her eyes shone a bright, emerald green- the only thing about her body that remained unchanged from the time she was born nearly 300 years ago. She may have fleshcrafted her body and hair but she would never change her eyes, her sire told her once that he loved the way they looked. On the side of her head, where her hair was shaved, was a tattoo- it looked like a zombie hand bursting out of the ground. Aster had allowed Needles to do the tattoo for practice and he picked the design. Aster found it a bit silly but kept it anyways since he seemed so proud of it. She adjusted her Victorian-style vest, ran a hand over her hair and looked back at Needles, "I'll be back before sunrise." She said and walked back to the waiting room.

Her "guest" looked her over, his face looking bored as all hell as he said "You ready? Let's go." Aster sighed dejectedly and said "Alright, lead the way." The man smirked, opening her door, stepping onto the street and began to haul ass. Aster was caught off-guard, she didn't expect to be running to a meeting. She had thought her chaperone would have at least had some type of vehicle, isn't that just the polite way to do things? She really didn't have time to think about it as the other vampire yelled back to her "Try to keep up, new blood! I'll leave you in the dust!"

Aster frowned, readying herself, and took off after him. She found it somewhat difficult to keep up- he was dodging through shitty alleys and poorly made roads and she was wearing somewhat restrictive clothing. But, despite all that, she managed to keep up well enough to get to where they were going, an abandoned mall.

The outside of the mall looked, well, maintained well enough for being an abandoned mall in Detroit- it had only somewhat fallen apart on the outside. Several groups were gathered around the entrance- some of them just talking, some of them building bonfires and jumping over them, some of them just standing around, watching the others. Aster looked around for her chaperone and noticed he had disappeared and shrugged, moving to one of the unoccupied spots on a wall and leaning against it- crossing her arms over her chest.

She carefully observed the groups, taking notes of how many packs were there- nothing out of the ordinary from her experience, although she didn't go to many Sabbat meetings in the past 150 years. As she scanned the crowd, she saw a vampire who stood out somewhat to her- a very, very pale redheaded man. He looked confused and like he didn't belong with any of the other groups. She watched as he too, looked around and then met eyes with her. She stared back at him and he began moving her way, much to her annoyance. As soon as he was within a few feet of her, he waved awkwardly "Hey- so do you know what's going on?" He asked with a slight Irish accent.

Aster shrugged in reply, "A meeting was all I was told- a required one or else I wouldn't be here." She rolled her eyes, looking away from him in the hopes that he would take the hint and go away. He didn't take the hint. "I'm Blue." He said, extending a hand to her. Aster looked over him and took his hand, shaking it. He looked really strange to her, wearing some weird jacket and a huge scarf. She couldn't help but notice the scars all over his face- he looked like he got into a fight with a lawn mower and lost badly. She smiled at the thought of a vampire fighting with a lawn mower when she realized he was still talking to her. "Interesting tattoo, where'd you get it?" He asked.

Aster shook her thoughts away and replied, "Ah, this one? My ghoul did it, he's a tattoo artist like myself." Blue seemed to get excited by this, "Oh, you're a tattoo artist? That's awesome, I need some work done myself."

"Oh?" Aster replied, "Well my shop is downtown if you're interested- I'm pretty sure I own the only shop that stays open pretty much 24/7. My ghoul usually works days and of course, I do the night stuff. I'm Aster, by the way, and I'd be happy to work on you if you got the cash."

The smile that Blue wore faded for a moment and he rolled his eyes at her "I'm not stupid, ya know, Aster. Why would I pay for a tattoo that'll just be gone the next day?" He looked insulted, as if he thought she was trying to trick him.

Aster laughed, loudly, and a few of the gathered vampires looked at her. She then took her hands, placed them over her head and allowed her fleshcrafting to speak for her- growing her hair from short to incredibly long, nearly down to her ass. She then moved her hands over her hair once again, turning her hair a vibrant blue color. She smirked at Blue and said "That's why you'd pay me."

Blue looked confused for a moment, "Because you can change your hair color?" He asked. Aster sighed, clearly a bit frustrated. "No, you idiot, because I'm a fleshcrafter!" She practically yelled, using her hands to fix her hair back to its original style. Blue shrugged, looking at her, "I don't know what that is, sorry. It's not a discipline I'm familiar with."

"Well, then, what can you do?" Aster asked, curious as to what type of vampire didn't know about Vicissitude. In response, Blue put up his hands and suddenly, there was a flower there as if conjured. He did a overly dramatic bow, extending the flower to her. It was Aster's turn to be confused, she looked at the flower and took it, holding it in her hand before it just vanished. "What was that?" She asked Blue- was it some type of magic? She wasn't sure.

"Chimerstry." He said proudly, "Illusion magic, basically. I can conjure basically anything I want. It's not real, of course, but I can easily make you think it's real." To prove his point, he conjured several more flowers with a wave of his hand before shaking them away into the wind, where they disappeared again.

"Interesting..." Aster mused. She wasn't familiar with Chimerstry at all, she didn't know which clan had that power- she was tempted to ask Blue what clan he was but she knew that was rude so she just let it go. Suddenly, the doors to the mall opened and a booming voice called out, "Get in here, you idiots!" and all the vampires around them began moving. Aster turned back to Blue and said, "Shall we?" and Blue nodded in response, both of them joining the crowd to head inside.

Once inside, everyone gathered around and several vampires grabbed any available seats and sat down. Aster didn't bother to try and grab a seat- there weren't enough for everyone and she didn't want to fight for a chair. She stood in the back, near Blue, and leaned against a wall. In the middle of everyone, a woman with long black hair walked over and somehow started up a huge bonfire- Aster couldn't see very well from where she was, but she assumed they had something set up ahead of time. Once that was done, the woman went to stand next to two other vampires- one of them a large, tough-looking man who was wearing a nice suit and hat. Next to him was a less nice-looking man, he looked somewhat feral and hunched over, whispering something into his arm- Aster wondered if he was Malkavian or something, he was certainly acting crazy enough. Then the large man moved forward, into the middle of the room and began to speak loudly with a Russian accent, "Sword of Caine! You have been called here tonight by the Archbishop herself. It has been a while since we last gathered and the Archbishop wishes for us to renew our bonds with a new Vinculum. Plus, we have new blood in the city." He gestured over to where Aster and Blue stood and Aster wished she could shrink away as dozens of eyes were suddenly on her- she really disliked being the center of attention. The man, who Aster assumed was a Bishop from the way he talked, smiled at her and then said, "Please, you two, introduce yourselves."

Aster looked to Blue, hoping that he would speak up first and get on with it- no luck. He was just staring back at her and then moved his hands as if to say _you go!_ and Aster sighed, turning to face the crowd. With a shrug, Aster addressed the crowd, "My name is Aster- I own a tattoo shop downtown. I've been in the city for a few months already." She hoped that was sufficient, she really didn't want to give out more than that. Apparently, that did suffice as the large man looked from her to Blue and Blue began to speak, "Uhh.. I'm Blue. I live downtown in some abandoned church with one of my other pack-mates. That's… about it." He gave an awkward smile, looking back at Aster. The Bishop nodded in their direction and then looked back to the crowd as a whole, "Good, now that that is out of the way, everyone give your attention to the Archbishop- Carolina Valez."

Aster looked up to the second story of the mall, where a woman stood. She wore quite the revealing outfit and several piercing on her face. She had a few tattoos and she looked down upon the crowd with a smile on her face as she began to move from the second floor down to the first. She spoke and her voice carried an air of authority, "Sword of Caine," she began "It has been some time since we last met. I felt it important to call this meeting as we need to reinforce our bonds- we are the Sabbat and our bonds are what make us strong. Plus, let us not forget our two newcomers." She, too, gestured to Aster and Blue and once again, all the eyes in the room fell upon them. Aster felt uncomfortable, shifting in her spot, wishing they'd stop drawing attention to her. However, Carolina began to speak again, redrawing attention to herself, "Now, let us not waste time, my fellow Cainites. It is time, once again, to begin the Viniculum!"

The Archbishop then walked over to a table that had been set up, and a rather large bowl had been placed upon it. She stood behind the bowl, pulled out a large dagger and slit her wrist, allowing her blood to drain into the bowl. She then waved over the three vampires who were standing separate from the crowd as she said, "Come, my Bishops, and add your blood." The three of them moved over, mimicking Carolina's movements, adding their blood to the bowl. Then Carolina turned to the crowd and smiled, "Now, please join us everyone- in an orderly fashion, of course." One by one, the vampires began to rise, moving to the bowl and adding their blood in. Aster fidgeted, she really didn't want to join a Viniculum with these Cainites- not yet at least. She barely knew any of them. But she knew to not do so was basically asking to be killed. _Maybe I can just… pretend to drink from the bowl, I'm sure no one would notice._ She waited until an opening came and moved up to add in her blood, Blue following suit.

Once everyone had added their blood, the bowl was then raised, Carolina taking the first drink from it and then passing it around. Once Aster received it, she put the bowl to her lips and did her best not to take any in- until she heard a voice whisper in her ear, "Is there a reason you do not wish to partake in our blood, Volgirre?" Aster nearly dropped the bowl, turning and looking straight into the eyes of the woman with the long, black hair. Aster stammered for a moment, then replied "Oh, uh, I was actually just enjoying the aroma for a moment, much like you would do with a fine wine. Plus, it's been quite some time since I've gotten to enjoy the scent of fresh vitae." Aster smiled at her, then drank from the bowl, really wishing she hadn't been caught. Aster then passed the bowl over to Blue, who seemed to be a bit shaken from Aster getting caught, and he drank from the bowl right away. The woman smiled sweetly at Aster, and continued to whisper into her ear, "I am Samantha, one of the Bishops. You almost made a most dangerous mistake, Volgirre. Tell me, when the rest of your bloodline went traitor and ran to the Camarilla, why is it you stayed?"

Aster froze, she felt so uncomfortable with Samantha so close to her. She muttered, trying not to be overheard, "My loyalty has always belonged to the Sabbat- the Camarilla would never allow me to be who I truly am and the Sabbat has never let me down." Aster felt something move up her back, and she felt Samantha's hands rest on her shoulders and Aster had to fight the urge not to push her away- she hated being touched. "Good answer." Samantha whispered, her tone shifting to something more seductive. "I find you very interesting, Aster. You should come to my club sometime, it's in uptown. Come and see me sometime." And with that, Samantha removed her hands and began to walk away, glancing back to Aster one last time to wink at her.

With a sigh of relief, Aster relaxed as she walked away, noticing that half of the room had been staring at them. Most of them had disapproving looks on their faces and Aster wondered if they had overheard any of the conversation. She didn't want anyone to know about her bloodline, it would automatically mark her as some type of traitor. She looked over at Blue, who gave her a confused look back- had he overheard too? She wasn't sure but she moved closer to him and muttered "I'm not so sure I like the Cainities in this city…" to which Blue shrugged in response. "They're not so bad," he said "Pretty standard Sabbat from what I can tell." Aster couldn't disagree, this is generally how the Sabbat were- which is why she often skipped their meetings.

Once the bowl had made its rounds, it ended up back in the front. Then, Carolina turned back to the group and put her hands up in the air, causing a wave of silence to wash over the crowd. "Now, I believe it is time for us to begin the bloodfeast." She made a gesture over to the side where Aster saw a few people hanging upside down, wrapped tightly in chains and hung from the ceiling. They were a family from the looks of it, a woman, a man, a teenager and two small children. Aster looked back at Carolina and noticed a strange expression on her face as she studied the family, but she seemed to quickly snap back to attention as she said "Well then, feel free to begin." She walked over and began to feed from one of the captured humans and soon, most of the vampires followed suit. Aster stood back, feeling that she had no right to shove her way in to feed, standing next to Blue and seeing from the look on his face that he most likely felt the same. Once enough space had cleared, they both moved in and fed, the blood filling Aster with a temporary warmth that always faded all too quickly.

As Aster fed, she heard a strange sound coming from outside the mall. Unsure of what it was, she moved away from feeding and looked around- it seemed some of her fellow vampires also heard this sound as well as several of them began to look around as well. It sounded like a dull roar, but it was quickly getting louder. And then Aster recognized the sound, but a moment too late. Through the halls of the empty malls roared the engines of motorcycles, probably about a dozen, screeching loudly into the room they were all in. The riders were carrying various weapons, some having nothing more than a baseball bat but some of them had some serious heat- shotguns, semi-auto machine guns and the like. Aster looked back to see several of the vampires around her had fled, and the Bishops had surrounded the Archbishop, moving her up to the second floor to safety. Those who were left began to jump into a fight with the men on the bikes. Aster backed up, about to flee herself when a loud **BANG** went off and she felt immense pain in her shoulder- one of the men who had a shotgun had shot her as he drove by. _Ow! Son of a bitch! I'm gonna make this guy regret that choice._ She was mad. It'd been a long time since she had been in a fight but that didn't mean she was any less pissed off.

She watched as the man turned his bike around and she crouched into a more defensive position. She wasn't quite sure how to knock the guy off his bike. He passed by, taking another shot at her which barely missed her face. She looked around, spotting a stairway she could hide in. As he went to turn again, she moved, rushing for the stairway and dodging into it just as he came by- however, her leg was hit by his shot. "Fuck!" she screamed, pulling herself into a more safe spot. She looked around desperately, trying to find something to defend herself with and found a piece of discarded wood. _Guess this'll have to do…_ She grabbed it, readying herself and she heard the bike approaching. He rounded the corner, his headlines shining in her eyes and temporarily blinding her. As she heard the bike get closer, she stuck the wood out, hoping the catch the wheels.

Luck was with her, it seemed, as the wood somehow caught the right spot in the wheels, sending the bike off course and into a nearby wall. However, the sudden wrenching of the wood into the wheels also caused Aster's arm to break as she held on, pain shooting through her again. She shook herself off, standing up and walking over to where the driver had fallen, grabbing his shotgun with her good arm and pointing it at his head before firing 3 shots. She recoiled slightly as blood and brain matter splattered all over her face and clothes, flicking some of the carnage off herself before she looked around to find Blue. She spotted him, moving up to the second floor, seeming to have the upper hand against a guy with a baseball bat. She watched as Blue took a few swings at the guy, trading blow for blow. Aster began to move, heading up to help Blue. As she got up there, she took a swing at the back of the guy's head,and hit him enough for Blue to get a good punch in from the front- causing the man to get knocked out cold and hit the ground.

With a growl of anger, Aster grabbed the man by the back of his collar, and dragging him up to the second floor. She glanced back down the stairs, noticing that all the other men in the motorcycle group either were dead or had left. She turned back to the man that Blue had knocked out and slapped his face, hoping to wake him up. His eyes began to flutter, and when they came back into focus and he saw Aster and Blue hovering over him, he jumped up and immediately fell to his knees. He fished around in his shirt, grabbing for something before he held a cross out in front of him, whimpering as he said "Please, please, I'm a good man. I'm a Christian. Please don't kill me!" Aster looked to his hands, seeing the cross held within them and suddenly, she saw red. An anger and fury that she hadn't felt in years took over her and she felt lost- everything became a blur of emotion and hate.

The anger moved through her, guiding her motions. She grabbed the man by the arms, smashing his hands into his face with all her might. She then brought her hands together, smashing her clasped hands into his head and knocking him to the ground. It was like someone else was guiding her as she repeatedly smashed her fists into the man over and over, his screams silenced by the blood filling his lungs and throat. Even has she punched, her own hands became raw and bloody, her blood mixing in with his as she continued her vicious onslaught. And then… her hands hurt, they hurt really badly. She looked down, her fury subsiding, and she saw a pile of mush. Red, bloody mush with bones and entrails sticking out from all over. Her hands were in tremendous pain and she looked down at them, seeing them covered in blood and guts. She looked over at Blue, who had a horrified look on his face and she sighed, knowing exactly what had happened. She had lost control and frenzied, killing the man with the cross. She looked back at the bloody mess that used to be a person and saw a pair of shoes standing behind the pile. Aster looked up to see one of the Bishops there, the large man who had addressed the crowd at the start of the meeting.

"Well done, you two." His voice dripped with sarcasm. "Really, just wonderful work. Thanks to you two, we can no longer get any information from him as to who he worked for." He looked extremely displeased and Aster looked down in embarrassment- it's not like she had planned to kill the man. The Bishop cleared this throat and then said, "You two are lucky that my boys are much more efficient than you." He looked behind Aster and Blue, causing the two of them to look backwards in response. Standing there was one of the packs, a group of bikers from the looks of it. They held one of the guys from the group of motorcyclists between them and he looked terrified as hell. A woman in the group stepped forward- she sported short, jet black hair and wore a lot of clothing that reminded Aster of someone getting ready for a war, mixed with the usual biker clothes- leather jacket and the like. She took the man and threw him on the ground in front of Aster and Blue and she announced, "Czar, we managed to capture one of them. I'm quite certain that he is willing to answer questions now, and if not, I'll happily beat them out of him." She looked down at the man and he squirmed, trying slightly to scoot away but failed when he realized when he was surrounded.

"Ah, the Hell's Rejects." Czar, as Aster understood his name to be, said, "I am glad you had the foresight to grab one of them." He looked down to the man and smiled at him- a sinister, cold smile that reminded Aster of the type of smile a mafia Godfather might give. "Now, I believe it is time for you to talk."

The man looked around and then threw his hands up, "L-listen, this was just a job, man! M-my boss, he took on this job from some guy who really wanted you fucks dead. He m-must of really hated you, he wanted us to set you all on fire and shit. He owns some shitty radio equipment somewhere and has some serious cash- that's all I know." Czar leaned in close to the man and even Aster felt intimidated from his actions, taking an involuntary step to the side to get out of the way. "And who is your boss?" Czar asked. The man started to shake, he was truly terrified, "I work for the Kings, man." he said, a sense of pride in his voice. Czar stood up, looking to the Hell's Rejects and nodding to them. With one swift motion, the man's head rolled off his shoulders- he had been swiftly decapitated by the dark-haired woman. Aster watched the head roll away with some disgust- what a waste of good flesh.

Czar looked over all of them, and he shrugged. "Very well then. Silver- take the Hell's Rejects and wipe out these Kings- let them know they don't fuck with the Sabbat." The dark-haired woman, Silver apparently, nodded and made a motion to her pack and they swiftly moved out. Czar then looked at Aster and Blue, his cold smile back, "and you two, you will track down whoever hired them and take care of him. Make him pay for this. Prove that you're worthy to be under me." Aster and Blue nodded, "Yes, sir." they said in unison, quickly backing away from Czar and leaving the mall- Aster making sure to grab the shotgun on the way out.


	2. In Search of the Bat

As Aster and Blue walked out of the mall, Aster reached into her back pocket and pulled out her cell phone to check the time. 3:30 AM. She still had enough time to make it home easily before the sun rose. She noticed she had a ton of text messages from Needles and sighed, opening the messages so she could read them:

hey boss i had to lock up for the night

i know i said i'd stay until sunrise this week

But my gf is pissed at me right now

im sorry please dont be upset with me

ill see you tomorrow night

Aster frowned at the messages- why the fuck couldn't he just say everything in one message? She didn't particularly care that he left early, he did that pretty often nowadays. Girlfriend troubles, school issues, family stuff- Aster wondered sometimes if he was worth it. But finding someone to ghoul was a pain in the ass, and finding someone who Aster trusted was even harder. She looked up at Blue and frowned, "My ghoul left the shop early." she explained.

"Oh, I see." Blue replied, pulling out his own phone. "I'm gonna call an Uber, you want a lift?" He asked, waving his phone in her direction. Aster nodded in reply, "Yeah that'd be nice, I ran here… unwillingly."

They waited in silence for an Uber, and both piled into the backseat once it arrived. Aster gave the address of her shop (which was also her haven) and Blue gave the address of his church. They also exchanged numbers since they were going to be working together to find whoever this guy was that hired the Kings. As the car moved along, though, Aster noticed something coming from the radio. It wasn't turned to a normal music station but was instead set on some type of talk show. The man on the talk show was speaking rather quickly and erratically- normally something that Aster would just blow off and ignore, but then she heard something that caught her attention.

"These creatures, these freaks. They pretend to be human, just like you or me but they're so much worse. They hide in the shadows, they'll grab you right off the street and drain your very life away!"

Aster looked over at Blue and he frowned, "Think this might be our guy?" he whispered to her. Aster shrugged, "Could be. Let's keep-" and she paused, noticing the driver moving to change the station. "**Don't**." she growled at him. The driver paused and then moved his hand back, "Shit, lady, okay! I won't change it- didn't think you two would be into this crazy talk."

Aster hissed a "Be quiet!" at him as she focused on the radio- the man on the radio was still talking, "Listen, I have a plan, dear listeners. A plan to rid ourselves of these things. I tried something today but it just didn't work so I have a new plan. I'm going to contact the media, I'll let everyone know exactly what we're dealing with. For more information, visit my youtube channel- user name is eyeknowthetruth, Eye being spelled e-y-e and it's all one word." and with that, the transmission went to static.

Aster looked at Blue again and rolled her eyes, "Guess we have no choice but to look up this… youtube of his." She wasn't super familiar with today's technology- sure she had a smart phone and could text, look up places on google maps and call an Uber but that was about the limit of her abilities. "Do you have any knowledge of what that is?" she asked Blue. Blue frowned and said, "Kind of? I mean, I've watched a youtube video before but I don't know if I could find a specific one..."

"Hey, we're at the tattoo shop, lady." The driver suddenly called from the front, stopping the car. Aster looked out the window to see the familiar site of her shop. She opened the door and got out of the car, looking back to Blue. "I'll see what I can figure out and I'll text you." She said to Blue as she shut the door.

She watched the car drive away and then turned back to her shop, using her keys to unlock the front door and step inside. She checked the time again, 3:45- the sun would be rising in a few hours. She could either open the shop now and hope for some business (usually drunk idiots making bad decisions at this time of night) or work on trying to find information on his mysterious radio person. Aster opted for option three, keep the shop closed and relax for now. She walked up the stairs behind the counter up to her "apartment".

Her room was basically an attic converted for living purposes. Or… unliving purposes in her case. There was a bed, a dresser full of clothes, a homemade closet, a full length mirror and a desk. She had even managed to get a shower up here by hiring a contractor- although he had informed her doing so made the building out of code, but she didn't care- she liked showers too much to give them up. She tossed her new shotgun onto the bed and was about to sit down on her bed and grab her sketchbook when an idea hit her and she quickly moved over to her dresser- pulling out some rather old, holey clothes that were covered in mysterious stains. She put them on, grabbed a bag that was on the floor near her bed and set back out into the night- locking the door behind her as she left.

Once on the street, Aster began her search for anyone stupid enough to be wandering the streets of Detroit alone at 4 am. She was in luck, as she spotted a college-aged boy staggering down the sidewalk not too far from her shop. He was clearly drunk from the way he walked, and he stopped for a moment to vomit profusely onto the sidewalk before continuing on. _Humans are disgusting… But this one is lucky, I'll make him beautiful_. Aster snuck up behind him, pulling a baseball bat from her bag. With a swift swing, she knocked him over the head and he hit the ground like a load of bricks. Aster smiled, placing the baseball bat back into her bag and scooping up her prize, hoisting him over her shoulder as she set off down the street, making sure to dodge any cops on the way.

Aster arrived at a butcher's shop, pausing at a back door to fish her keys out of her pocket and unlocking the door. She moved swiftly inside, passing through the first freezer section where there were various hunks of meat set up to a back freezer that had a huge padlock and chain across it. Aster once again pulled her keys out, unlocking the padlock and allowing it and the chains to hit the floor. She pulled the door open and moved into the freezing cold room.

Inside looked like something straight out of the imagination of a demon from Hell. Large, fleshy mounds were inside and they looked like at one point, they might have been human but were hardly recognizable as such anymore. Some of the flesh mounds were unmoving, framed up on the wall and stationary but some of them were clearly still holding on to some type of life, making unholy noises as they tried to move around. Aster looked proudly at them- her creations, her art gallery. So far, she was the only one who had seen it- it wasn't ready for the outside world yet. Some day, but not now. She paid a pretty penny to the butcher who owned this shop to keep this room for her, under threat of death if he were to try and open the door. Coming here to work on her "art" always relaxed her- doing tattoos was all fine and good but actual fleshcrafting, that was what she craved. The human body fascinated her- the way it could twist and bend and become something new; of course, sometimes a few bones had to be changed or broken but that wasn't usually a problem, Aster enjoyed the screams of her "canvas" as she worked on them anyway. Aster dropped the man she was carrying onto the ground and pulled out her phone- she wouldn't have time tonight to do anything substantial, she'll just wrap him up for now and come back tomorrow. She just wanted to make it so that she could return and get to work right away. She flipped the man onto his back, tying his hands together tightly and placing a meat hook under the chains. She turned the machine on and lifted him up towards the ceiling, leaving him to hang. She watched the blood from his head wound drip down his face and frowned, hoping he wouldn't die from the blood loss. It didn't really matter but it was more fun when they were still alive…

Aster turned, going back to the door and replacing the chains and padlock. She sighed, wishing she had the time tonight to work on her art since she had a rough night but it wasn't worth the risk of getting caught in the sun. He would keep until tomorrow.

Aster hurried back to her tattoo shop, getting inside as she felt the sun getting close to rising. She went back up to her room and turned her shower on, washing the blood, guts and brains off of her. She wondered for a moment if the Uber driver had noticed- maybe he thought it wasn't real or something. She scrubbed herself clean and toweled off, crashing onto the bed with a thud- the weight of the sun heavy upon her and she felt exhaustion take her.

The next morning, Aster felt something standing over her as she stirred. She opened her eyes and looked up to see Needles staring down at her. "What do you want, Needles?" Aster asked, rolling over. She was still nude from the previous night, but Needles had seen her naked too many times now for it to matter. Needles shifted nervously as he said, "I'm so sorry to b-bother you, Aster but there's, uh, this guy here. Says his name is Blue and you k-know him" Aster sat up, quickly moving over to the dresser and grabbing out an outfit. She turned to Needles as she began to dress and said "Go down and tell him I'll be there in a minute." Needles nodded, quickly exiting the room.

Aster finished dressing, quickly going down the stairs and out to the waiting room where, sure enough, Blue was waiting for her. He waved at her and she just stared at him, "What are you doing here? I thought I said I'd text you." Blue shrugged and looked around the room, "I wanted to see your shop, I was curious." He then pointed to Needles, "Your ghoul?" Aster nodded, "Yep, that's Needles. He's pretty young- only been a ghoul for a few months but very loyal." She then paused, frowning. She couldn't for the life of her remember how old Needles actually was. "Hey, Needles- how old are you again?"

Needles looked at her and looked almost hurt, as if he couldn't believe that she had forgotten, "I'm turning 20 in a few weeks, Aster." He said. Aster then had an idea, "Oh! Wait. Needles. Do you know how to find someone on youtube?" Needles looked surprised, and then he laughed, "Oh man, Aster. You don't know how to do that? I mean, I knew you were bad at computers but come on, that's super easy." He kept laughing but immediately stopped when he saw the look on Aster's face. "It's not my fault that technology keeps changing at such a fast rate that I can barely keep up. When I was born, the first electrical capacitor was created. Computers weren't even a figment of imagination yet. So excuse me for being behind."

Needles put his hands up defensively, "It was just a joke, Aster, lighten up." He moved behind the counter and bent over, straightening up with a laptop in his hands. He placed the laptop on the counter and opened it up. Immediately, loud moaning filled the room as the screen lit up, showing a video of a woman… well, let's just say, she had a good reason to be moaning. Aster rolled her eyes and Blue shook his head, "Gross." Needles quickly moved the mouse, closing the video and his face went red. "Oops. I, uh, forgot that… I left that… playing."Aster stared at him, unsmiling "You have strange tastes, Needles. What did that woman have in her-" "AS I was saying," Needles interrupted, "Finding a channel on youtube is easy. What's the name of the channel?"

"Eyeknowthetruth. E-y-e instead of a normal I." Aster replied. Needles typed away and studied the screen before going "Aha, there it is." Aster leaned in closer from behind him, trying to see the screen better. There looked to be a bunch of videos, most of them having strange, random titles such as "unboxing new radio equipment" "my new microphone is here" and the like, until a certain date a few weeks ago- then the titles began to change: "they're out there in the night" "be careful or they'll get you too" "moving to safer location" "fight the night" and the most recent one "going to the media". Aster pointed at that video and Needles clicked on it. The video began to play and it showed a man, hidden somewhat by shadows so it was difficult to make out his features as he said, "Greetings, truthers. It is time, I'm going to the media with what I've found. These night creatures, they need to be stopped. If you find them, burn them with fire, it's the only way to put an end to them." Aster watched the video carefully as the man had picked up whatever he using to record and was moving about the room. She spotted a window at some point and yelled, "Pause it!" and Needles hit the space bar to pause the video.

Aster leaned closer to the screen, trying to get a better view, her chest practically pressed into Needles' back at this point. She studied the screen carefully, staring out the window and then smiled "Ah. I've seen that sign before." She said, waving Blue over and pointing out a sign outside the window in the video. "It's some shitty bar not too far from here." Blue stared at the screen too and then nodded, "Yeah I think I've seen the place while I was wandering around- although I usually stick to the parks. I like the trees."

"Anyways," Aster said, rolling her eyes, "We should start our search in that area. But we need to be careful about it, we don't want to alert him to the fact that we're looking for him- it might cause him to flee and make our jobs that much harder." Blue mused for a moment before he spoke, "What do you think he is, anyway? Just some asshole human? A hunter? This could be dangerous."

Aster thought for a moment and then said, "We'll treat this as if we're going after a hunter, then. Just to be safe. If he turns out just to be some jackass then no harm done. I'll be right back, I'm going to grab my gun." Aster turned and went back up the stairs, grabbing the shotgun that laid on the floor next to her bed- she probably should be more careful about where she left the damn thing- and headed back down, strapping the gun to her back with some spare things she had found around the shop. Aster then looked to Needles and said, "You can have the night off if you want- go deal with your girlfriend problem or whatever." Needles shook his head sadly, "Actually, I'll stay here… I don't really want to talk about it." and he just left the room, heading down into the storage basement. Aster shook her head, she just didn't understand humans sometimes- she thought she was emotional sometimes but nothing compared to humans.

With that, Aster looked at Blue and asked if he was ready, to which Blue nodded and they headed out, walking to the bar that they were familiar with. Once there, they stopped on the street and Aster closed her eyes, trying to recall the angle of the sign in relation to the window. She looked at the nearby buildings, trying to decide which one was at the right spot to see the sign the way she had seen it. And there was one- perfectly aligned to match what she had seen. Sadly, it had around 20 stories and she was unsure which floor the guy would be on. She pointed out the building to Blue and they headed inside.

Once inside, Aster noticed there was some type of desk at the front where a seedy-looking man sat. She wandered over to him, leaning over the desk and smiling in a way that she hoped looked sweet. The man looked up at her… and then down at her chest. She tried not to frown and she said "Hi there, I'm looking for a friend of mine- I met him online and he wanted me to stop by for some… fun." She used a sultry tone, hoping that this guy would be too distracted by her "assets" to call her out on her bullshit. He looked up at her face again for a moment and replied, "I'm not supposed to give out information of the people who live here- I'm security after all, I'm supposed to keep them safe." Aster changed her smile to a sad frown, leaning forward even further to give him a better view of her cleavage- making a mental note to herself to heavily shower later. "Please, sir, I don't mean him any harm- I just want to see my long time friend. He's very shy so he didn't want me to come but… I just care for him so much and he's been scaring me lately with all these talks of being depressed… I won't tell a soul if you just point me in his direction." The guy, who had once again been staring at her boobs, then seemed to look past her and Aster suddenly became very aware of the shotgun resting on her back and she froze. The guy looked back at her, raising an eyebrow as he said, "No harm, huh? Then why are you packing heat?"

"Oh, that? It's a replica. You know how men are with their toys- I had this made for him but I didn't want it to get damaged from bumping around in the car so I put in the safest place I know- on my back." She once again smiled at him and he stared at her deadpan, no smile on his face. Aster sighed, she knew that she was getting no where and quickly, so she dropped the act. "Listen, buddy, I just need to see this guy about something important- no, I have no plans to shoot him, this is just for **my** protection. He might be dangerous. Now, what do I need to do for you to get the information I need?" The guard leaned back, looking her over and crossing his arms over his chest. "Why didn't you say that in the first place? If he's possibly dangerous then my boss isn't going to want him here. What do you know about him?" Aster thought back to the video and gave any and all descriptions she could- it was difficult, most of his features had been hidden by clever lighting, and she mentioned he was on the radio. The guard then went, "Oh that kid? Yeah I know who he is- fucking weirdo. He stalks around all the time down here, muttering to himself about all this crazy shit, asking me to keep out the 'night stalkers' that are after him. He's insane, I was looking to ask to have him kicked out anyway- yeah, he's in 8E. Elevator is out, though, you'll have to take the stairs." Aster thanked him for his information and Blue waved to the guard as they walked to the stairwell doorway and opened it- heading up to the 8th floor.

Once on the 8th floor, they opened the door from the stairwell into the hallway and looked around- the place looked like shit. Garbage littered the halls and it seemed none of the apartments were sound proof, Aster and Blue could hear people screaming, kids playing and yelling, people fucking, etc. Blue tapped Aster on the arm and pointed at the letters on the door and she saw they went in ascending order up the one side of the hallway. Blue began to head up the hall and Aster followed behind, stopping with him as they got to 8E. Aster looked to Blue and asked, "So… do we just knock? Or what?"

As if in response to her question, the door flew open and Aster saw a man standing there, a deranged look on his face, pointing a gun at her. She noticed his hand shaking and he began to yell, "I knew it! I knew you were after me! I won't be silenced, you can't stop me. I'll tell everyone about you, all of you! I need to keep everyone safe!" Aster didn't know what to do- she didn't think she could talk down a crazy man and talking was all she was really good at. Before she knew it, she saw Blue move into the room, tackling the guy down to the ground and holding him. He then turned to Aster and yelled "Shoot him!"

Aster moved into the room, slamming the door behind her to keep any prying eyes out, and she pulled her shotgun off her back, pointing it at the man's face. She went to pull the trigger when the man hissed and she noticed… "Fangs! He's got fangs! He's a vampire." She called to Blue, who was struggling with all his might to keep the guy down. "Th-that's nice, Aster. Doesn't really help me here, though." Blue replied. Aster looked around the room, spotting a wooden coffee table. She rushed over and kicked one of the legs out, then took the leg and smashed it against a wall, knocking a good, sharp piece off wood and ran back over to the struggling vampire, slamming the stake into his chest. Immediately, the vampire stopped moving- paralyzed by the stake in his chest. Blue hopped up, looking down at the vampire, clearly confused "Why the hell was he acting like that if he was a vampire too?" Aster shrugged in response, "Maybe he had a bad embrace or something, I don't know. Anyway, I think we should take him to the Bishop instead of killing him." "Sounds like a plan," Blue agreed, picking up the vampire and putting him over his shoulder. Together, the two of them set out and went to make their way to where the Bishop was…

...Except they had no idea where that was. Fuck, they had forgotten to ask. Or get anyone's contact information. Or give anyone their contact information. Shit. Aster and Blue just stood on the street, with Blue holding a staked vampire over his shoulder. "We can't just stand out here, someone's gonna see this jackass and call the cops or something. Let's just go back to my shop for now." Blue nodded, and the two of them headed back to Aster's tattoo shop. Once inside, Aster looked around- there were no customers thankfully, and either Needles had left or was still sulking in the basement, so she locked the door. Aster motioned for Blue to follow her up to her room and he threw the staked vampire onto her bed. "So...what do we do now?" Blue asked. Aster sat down on her bed next to the staked vampire, crossing her legs, "Well the way I see it, we have two options. Option one, we search around the city like assholes, looking for another Cainites and asking where to find Czar- that way everyone can know how much of idiots we are. Or, we can wait- the Bishop gave us this task, I'm sure he will realize we didn't get his contact information and send someone… right?"

As if in answer to her question, a knock came from downstairs on the glass door of the shop. Aster looked at Blue and then rushed down the stairs, seeing a huge man standing on the other side of the glass. Aster unlocked the door and opened it, and the man looked down at her but said nothing. Aster felt awkward as he just stared, "Uhh… you lookin' for a tattoo or something buddy? Shop's closed so..." The man put up a large hand and spoke, his Russian accent so thick that Aster could barely make out the words, "The Czar is looking for you. He gave you job and you have not reported. Come."

Aster nodded and said, "Yes, this is exactly what I was hoping for actually- let me get my friend and the guy we caught." Before he could reply, she turned and ran back up the stairs, motioning to Blue to pick up the staked vampire- "Seems like luck is on our side. Or Czar is mad at us. Either way, his guy is here to get us." Blue nodded and the two of them headed down the stairs, outside and into the car, escorted by the large Russian man. Blue stopped and dropped the staked vampire into the trunk and they were off.

They arrived at a rather large office building, and the large Russian man opened the door for Aster and Blue, then moved to the trunk and grabbed the staked vampire out. He then lead the way, carrying their new "friend" over his shoulder, and making sure Aster and Blue kept close behind. At the door were a few large men as well, Aster assumed Russian as well, and they opened the doors for them. Inside, it looked like a pretty normal receptionist area, complete with an actual receptionist. Aster looked around, she was only slightly surprised- she knew some vampires chose to mask their undead lifestyles but she rarely got to witness it in action. The large man they were with then ushered them to an elevator, they got in and the elevator began to move.

The elevator reached the top floor and the three of them stepped out into a large, beautiful office. At the end of the office was a beautiful, wooden desk, which Czar was leaning against with his arms folded across his chest- he looked rather displeased. Aster looked to the side of the room and saw the Hell's Rejects there, some of them covered in blood and bullet holes and they looked almost afraid- like the way a kid with abusive parents would look when their parents got a bit too angry, before the abuse starts. The man who had escorted Aster and Blue walked to the middle of the room and unceremoniously threw the staked vampire onto the ground and then moved back to the side of the elevator, standing the same way a bodyguard would. Aster was unsure what to do, was she supposed to say something or…? But then, Czar spoke.

"I am unhappy." He said simply, and Aster felt a twinge of unease. Had they fucked up somehow? But then he continued, "Now, you two," he said, looking to Aster and Blue, "is this who hired those 'Kings' thugs?" Aster nodded, "Yes, Your Excellency, when we found him we were quite surprised to find that he was a Cainite, so we staked him to bring him to you."

Czar smiled slightly, pushing himself off his desk and walking over to the staked vampire, looking down on him. He looked back to Aster and Blue, "This," He gestured down to the staked vampire, "This makes me happier. You two completed your task and you did it well- better than I can say for them." He pointed to the Hell's Rejects, most of whom looked away. Then suddenly, one of them stepped forward, "Hey man, we did what we could- we didn't expect a small army to be there and yeah, the head guy got away but we got most of them!"

Aster felt the tension in the room reach a new point, most of the other Hell's Rejects stared at their comrade in almost horror, as if they couldn't believe what he had just done. Czar's face went emotionless and he rounded on the Hell's Reject member who spoke out- grabbing his arm in one, swift motion and **crack** \- the arm was broken. Czar then put his hand over the guy's mouth and suddenly, there was no mouth there any longer, like it had been wiped away. _Oh, so he knows Vicissitude as well…_ Aster thought as she watched this all happen. Then the guy was thrown back onto the floor, clutching his broken arm and making strange sounds as he scrambled away. Czar looked over at all the Hell's Rejects and, in a tone seething with anger, "You have already failed me and next one of you to speak out of turn will receive worse. Just stand there and be silent." The rest of the Hell's Rejects nodded, most of them looking down to avoid Czar's gaze.

Then, Czar turned back to the staked vampire and reached down, grabbing the stake. "Let's see what this one has to say for himself." He said, pulling the stake out. Immediately, the vampire jumped up and began to hiss, freaking out. "I'll never tell you shit, I'll die first. Come at me fuckers, I'll kill you all!" He looked feral and Aster recognized it as a fear-fueled frenzy. They weren't going to get anything out of him this way. Czar seemed to recognize this too as he swiftly replaced the stake and the vampire froze once again. He then thought for a moment and returned to his desk, leaning on it once more. Then he spoke again, "I have an idea. I believe it is time for a Bat Race." He said, looking to the Hell's Rejects and then to Blue and Aster. "You have a chance to redeem yourselves Hell's Rejects- see if you can best the newcomers, since it already seems like they're doing better than you." Several of the Hell's Rejects glared at Aster and Blue, and Aster looked away- she didn't really want to have people pissed off with her over petty shit like this.

Czar then clapped his massive hands, causing Aster to jump. She looked at him and he said "Very well then, if there's no objections, the Bat Race shall commence in three days time. My receptionist will contact everyone with the exact time and location. And I shall keep our guest until then. Now, everyone get the hell out of my office."

With that, Aster and Blue, as well as the Hell's Rejects, scrambled for the elevator to get out. All of them piled in, making for a very awkward and uncomfortable ride down. As soon as they got outside, that woman- Silver- stopped in front of them. "Just to let you two know, we shall be winning that Bat Race and regaining our lost favor- so I hope you didn't plan on winning. It might be better for you two to not show up at all." _Oh, it's on now_ Aster honestly hadn't cared about the Bat Race, she didn't even have plans to win, but she did **not** like being challenged. Then, before she could stop herself, she said "Oh is that a fact, bitch? I'm going to make sure you have to work twice as hard to win now, and then right when you think you won, I'll steal the victory away from you. No one challenges **me**. Now, get out of my face before I eliminate some competition right here." Silver narrowed her eyes at Aster, then stepped back slightly, shrugging "Talk is talk, let's see you back up those actions. See you at the Bat Race."

Blue looked at Aster and sighed, "Why'd you have to go and mouth off like that?" and Aster shrugged, "I don't like being talked down to. Fuck 'em. We'll win that Bat Race with… teamwork. Ya, know, us two verses.. well, they have more than two but fuck 'em anyway." Aster then pulled out her phone and said, "Well, I guess I'll call us an Uber- let's rest up and get ready for that Bat Race." And the two of them headed to their respective havens.


	3. The Bat Race

A few relatively uneventful days passed- Aster worked in her shop, went to the butcher shop one night to finish her "art project" (unfortunately, the head wound had killed the kid, which disappointed her greatly, so she used his flesh to improve another living piece) and readied herself for the Bat Race. She generally knew what a Bat Race was, though she had never participated in one herself. She remembered talking to her sire once about the games played by the Sabbat- he had always thought they were savage and barbaric. She wasn't so sure she agreed, some of them seemed fun, but she didn't want to upset him and chose to keep her opinions to herself.

From what Aster understood, a Bat Race was when the "Bat"- a vampire (almost always someone who needed to die for some reason- a traitor, a spy, killed another Sabbat, something like that) was placed in a locked area- usually an abandoned building. Within that building, weapons were usually scattered about, and then packs of the local Sabbat would be locked in with said vampire. The "Race" part came from the competing Sabbat packs to get to the "Bat" first, kill them and diablerie them. Now, it wasn't just a free for all on the "Bat" - he or she also had access to the weapons and could defend themselves. If they somehow managed to kill all the packs that were after them, they earned their freedom- though Aster had heard tales of vampires managing this, only to be executed anyway in private.

Aster knew it would be dangerous- ideally, the Hell's Rejects shouldn't kill her, she was pretty sure that was against the rules. But she wouldn't put it past any Sabbat to just kill her anyway and blame it on their target. It was all around a dangerous situation, and Aster really wasn't looking forward to participating- why did she need to put her life on the line for this shit?

From nearby, Aster heard her phone chirp and she grabbed it- a text message there detailing the time of the race and the location. Tomorrow evening, dark and early, in place not too far from her shop thankfully. She figured she'd have to walk- she had never bothered to buy a car, everything she needed was easily available downtown within walking distance. But now she was rethinking that decision- maybe it was time get a car if she was going to be running errands all over for the Bishop. She threw her phone back onto her bed, leaned back and grabbed her pack of cigarettes, placing one into her mouth and lighting it. She inhaled the smoke, the ashy, tar-like taste filling her mouth, and exhaled through her nose.

Her mind drifted again to the Bat Race and to her new partner, Blue. She wondered if he was any good at fighting- she hoped so; Aster was never much of a combatant herself. Sure, she'd gotten into a few good scrapes in her time, although she avoided it at all cost. Why endanger yourself when it wasn't always necessary? But some vampires liked to flex their strength and words were lost of them. They wanted to prove they had the biggest dick in the room and more than once, Aster had to defend herself against those types. She had skill with a knife thanks to years of medical training- after all, before her Embrace, she was a very skilled doctor. She knew where to stab and how hard to make someone die pretty quickly but such things were less effective against vampires. She also knew how to shoot a gun thanks to one of her old pack-mates, a Tzimisce named Claud that Aster had been very close to. She… He… They had taught her so much, looking after her after Aster's sire had vanished. She learned her path from them, how to defend herself, how to improve her fleshcrafting and so much more. It was almost a tearful goodbye when Aster left her pack to seek out her sire. Claud hadn't wanted her to leave, but Aster's love for her sire made her very soul ache and she could not stand it any longer.

With one last inhale, Aster finished off her cigarette and placed the butt in the tray she kept on her desk next to her bed and immediately lit another cigarette. She grabbed her phone again and sent off a text to Blue.

_Hey- did you get the time and location?_

**Yeah – you nervous?**

_I just hope you're better at fighting than I am or we're fucked._

**Oh great.**

_I'll see you there tomorrow- put on your war face. We're gonna_ _win. Probably. Maybe._

**I'm filled with confidence.**

And with that, Aster shook her head, reaching over for the power cord for her phone and plugging in her phone. She checked the time, 4:30 AM, and decided to take a quick shower and go to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a hell of a night.

The next night, Aster woke up decently late- as she always did. For some reason, she always seemed to struggle with coming out of her resting state and waking up mid-day was all but impossible for her. She knew other Cainites also struggled with this, but not nearly to the degree she did. She looked at the time on her phone, 9:30 PM. She had an hour and a half to get ready and get to the location. She went to her dresser and began to root around for something suitable to wear- for some reason, she felt her restrictive vest/corset combo that she normally wore would be a poor choice for this. She opted for a t-shirt that was emblazoned with a skeletal hand flipping the bird, the words above it stating "Ask if I give a fuck." She then grabbed a pair of pants that were almost like leggings- they were flexible and that was the important part. She decided to pass on any jewelry save for a choker made of ribbon- too easy to get caught on something or pulled by someone. She pulled out of a pair of boots from the back of her closet- they looked more like combat boots but had a rose design embroidered on the side. She also grabbed some gloves from her dresser- hoping that they would help keep her hands from getting torn up if she took a spill. Once she was all dressed, she looked in the mirror- functional and stylish, just the way she liked. She grabbed her shotgun, wrapping it in a sheet to better conceal the fact that she walking around with a weapon and strapped it to her back again. With that, she began walking to the location.

She arrived at the location a bit early, having some time to kill before the race started. She looked around and was surprised to see a number of vampires gathered- she guessed they came to spectate. Several of them were standing around cars chatting, making small bonfires and it seemed they were taking bets. _Hope no one bets on me and Blue, they're gonna lose money._ Aster thought wryly to herself. Before long, she heard the sound of a motorcycle pulling up and she looked over to see Blue driving it. He parked it and hopped off, walking over to Aster with a goofy smile on his face. "Hey," he called as he got close. Aster looked him over and notice a distinct lack of weapons which instantly made her nerves flare up. "Uhh, did you come prepared?" She asked.

"Of course but I use knives mostly." He patted his jacket and she heard a clanking sound of metal. Aster had brought a knife too, a trusty one she had had for a few years- just a pocket knife but it was better than nothing. She really outta upgrade- get a switch blade or something. "So, what's our strategy here?" Blue asked her, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Aster thought about it for a moment- for all the time she had spent thinking of this race, she actually hadn't thought of a real strategy for the two of them. Oh well, time to make something up. "Well, we stick together and work as a team unless we are forced to separate." She said. _Brilliant. Real winner of an idea, you moron._ Blue shrugged, "Sounds good to me. So we going straight for the guy?"

"Yep, straight for him- avoid the Hell's Rejects at all costs. I don't know how likely it is that they'll play fair." Aster replied, looking over to where the Hell's Rejects were standing by the door. Some of them saw her staring and decided to taunt her with various rude gestures, to which Aster returned with a rude gesture of her own.

Then, Aster saw Czar walk out of the doors, followed by some of his goons. They shut the doors behind them and stood against them. Czar then waved over Blue and Aster, to which both of them walked over to him. Once they stood before him, next to the Hell's Rejects, Czar raised his hands up and a hush fell over the gathered crowd. He then spoke, his booming voice almost seeming to echo, "Sword of Caine- it is good to see you all tonight. It has been some time since we last had a Bat Race. Tonight, the Hell's Rejects will be against the two newcomers for the right to diablerie the traitor inside. The weapons have already been placed inside and the stake has been removed- now it's time for our contestants to enter the building." Czar then looked to the Hell's Rejects and Aster and Blue, speaking straight to them. "Remember, the door shall not be opened until either the traitor or all of you are dead. Do not disappoint me." And with that, the two goons opened the door and all of them headed inside. The door then slammed loudly behind them and Aster could hear the sounds of chains and locks being placed on the doors.

Immediately, the Hell's Rejects set off- it seemed they had come up with a plan from the get go. Aster and Blue, however, looked at each other and walked forward into the main room. It looked as though they were in an abandoned office building. From the main area, what was once a receptionist area from what Aster could tell, there were two hallways. Wordlessly, Aster started to head down the right hallway- pulling the shotgun off her back and readying it, just in case. She turned back to speak to Blue but then found herself alone. "Shit." She muttered before she heard a yell. She turned back around, returning back to the main area and down the other hall. There she saw Blue standing still and Silver holding a sword to his neck. Aster stomped down toward her, "Hey!" she called out, catching Silver's attention, "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Silver smirked, removing the blade and re-sheathing it- "Your friend is lucky." She said coldly, "I almost took his head off."

"Yeah I'd appreciate it if you didn't do that." Blue said, glaring at her. Silver didn't reply, she just rolled her eyes and said "Why don't you two do yourselves a favor and stay out of our way? Let the real Cainites handle this." And she sped off at an incredible speed before Aster and Blue could reply. Aster then rounded to Blue, "Where the fuck did you go?"

"Where did _I_ go? I thought you were following me." Blue retorted, crossing his arms over his chest. Aster was about to reply when the sounds of gunfire overhead interrupted her. Instantly, their argument forgotten, they took off- looking for a way to get up to the higher floors. Unfortunately, they were unable to find access to any stairs, both of them figuring the Hell's Rejects had found a way to block them off- assholes. Frustrated, Aster kicked a nearby desk as she heard more sounds of gunfire. Yep, they were going to lose- the Hell's Rejects were already fighting and probably winning.

Suddenly, Aster was struck with an idea. She and Blue had separated again in an attempt to find a way up and Aster looked up at the ceiling of the room she was in. Sure enough, in the decayed state of the ceiling, there were holes. She found one that looked barely big enough for her to fit through and located a desk that was underneath. She stood on the desk and readied herself to jump, pushing off with as much force as she could and grabbing the edge of the hole. She then pulled herself up into the ceiling, crawling around in the space underneath the floor until she found another opening that she could get out of. She began to squeeze through when a bullet whizzed past her face and she stopped, turning to the source of the bullet. There she saw one of the Hell's Rejects but it looked like he had seen better days- he was a bloody mess on the floor. He looked terrified, holding his side where Aster could see some of his entrails were hanging out. His leg was missing as well. He pointed the gun at her, hand shaking and he began to yell, "That dude is crazy! Motherfucker popped up out of nowhere with a fucking chainsaw!"

With a groan, Aster crawled out from the floor, standing up once she was free. She walked over to the Hell's Reject member and knelt down, inspecting his wounds carefully- the flesh was torn haphazardly. It was a mess. She didn't know if he'd recover, but she didn't really care. She watched as his eyes began to glaze over and he stopped moving, she figured he passed out from the pain. She pushed him to the side, out of the middle of the room so no one would step on him and continued on. She walked carefully, trying to be stealthy- if the guy had a chainsaw, she didn't want him to catch her by surprise.

After several minutes of searching, Aster came across a shut door- it looked like it lead to a break room of some type. She readied her shotgun, gently opening the door. Inside the room was pitch black and she reached over to find a light-switch and flicked it with a loud _click!_ once she had located it- but nothing happened. Why the hell she thought this building would still have power, she'd never know. But she did manage to find something in the dark- a loud, growling type sound that started as soon as she flicked the switch. Aster began to back out of the room and suddenly found herself in immense pain.

It felt as though every nerve in her stomach was being ripped apart violently, the pain almost unlike anything else she had ever felt before. She dropped her shotgun and heard someone screaming… no, that was her. She was screaming, loudly, overwhelmed by the pain. Then, she felt whatever was tearing her apart move away and she collapsed onto the ground, pain and anger overwhelming her mind and body. She growled, feeling a frenzy coming on. She welcomed the frenzy but willed herself to control it, she didn't need to attack anyone on accidentally- only the piece of shit that had hurt her. As she went to push herself up off the ground, she heard footsteps scurry past and the full force of her frenzy came- he needed to die. Now.

She took off after the footsteps, running the fastest she had in a long time. Rage blinded her as she knocked anything in her way out of the way. She then saw from her side someone approaching, but she knew it wasn't who she was after so she ignored him, following where she thought her assailant had gone. She heard Blue's voice behind her, "Aster! I heard you screaming, are you okay?"

Aster growled loudly, a sharp "**No**." escaping her. The two of them rounded a corner just in time to see the door to a room in front of them slam shut. It looked like some type of maintenance room. Without hesitation, Aster slammed against the door full-force, kicking it and hitting it as hard as she could. Blue sighed from behind her and went over, trying the handle- locked. Aster let out a louder growl, clawing at the door viciously- he was in there, she knew it. He must die. Die now!

She saw Blue moving around the doorknob, some type of tool in his hand. She didn't care, she would break down the door even if it broke every bone in her body. Suddenly, the door was open, Blue must have done something. Aster rushed into the room without a second thought and… **vroom** the chainsaw struck her again, this time catching her arm- violently ripping it off. That was the last straw, Aster turned, not even feeling the pain of losing her arm, and grabbed the base of the chainsaw. She pushed it with all her might back toward the wielder, pushing it deeply into his shoulder. He screamed in pain and the sound encouraged Aster as she pushed harder and harder, until the chainsaw began to sputter- the motor couldn't take it anymore and it began to die.

The vampire looked at Aster, terror on his face. He looked like he, too, was in near frenzy. But Aster didn't care. She grabbed him with her remaining hand and pushed him down, pouncing on him and sinking her teeth into his non-chainsawed shoulder. She drained him, savoring in the feeling of the blood filling her and when the blood ran dry, she continued to drain- drinking in his very essence.

Aster had never diableried before and didn't know what to expect. A strange sensation filled her and she felt new power flow through her. Along with this power, a euphoria entered her. She felt amazing and she pushed away the vampire's dead and drained body and she slumped against a nearby wall. She focused for a moment, using her blood to heal her injuries as much as possible, including replacing her arm. She looked down at her "new" arm, cracking her wrist loudly and making a fist. All sound around her sounded like a dull hum as she enjoyed the sensations of her diablerie, unaware of the passage of time, but then she felt a hand on her shoulder.

She looked up to see Blue, his mouth moving but she couldn't make out the words. He extended a hand to her and she took it. He pulled her to her feet and the world swayed for a moment around her, she used a nearby wall to steady herself. She put her hands to her face, rubbing her face gently as she felt the world slowly coming down around her. She started to become aware of a dull pain in her gut and arm. Blue extended his arm, wrapping it around her shoulders to keep her steady. Together, they walked out of the small maintenance room and into the next room.

In the next room, the Hell's Rejects were gathered, looking surprised. Aster, who now was filled with pain again and a slight headache, looked at them. She gave a smirk as she spoke, her voice strained from the pain, "Too late, assholes. We win."

The Hell's Rejects looked at each other, some of them muttering to each other and then Silver stepped forward, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked at Aster, "Well. Congratulations." She said, her voice tense. She looked back to her pack and motioned at them, "Let's go, boys. There's nothing else for us here." And with that, the group took off.

Aster watched them walk away, placing a bit more of her weight on Blue as it became more difficult to stand up. She then gasped, "My shotgun!" Blue shot her a look, "You… can't be serious, Aster." He said, sounding a bit exhausted- if it was from dealing with her or from the whole ordeal, she wasn't sure.

"I left it in the other room. It's my only gun." Aster said, starting to head over in that direction. Blue, however, didn't move and stared directly at her, his face emotionless. He then removed his arm from her and she fell to her knees. "I'll go get it, just wait here." He said, a long sigh leaving him as he walked out of the room. He returned a moment later, the shotgun in his hand. He handed it to Aster with an annoyed look and she took it. Blue then bent down, scooping Aster up in his arms and carrying her towards the stairs. Aster frowned at him, "I'm not a cripple, I can walk." She muttered and he rolled his eyes, "Yeah but not very well and I want to get the fuck out of here."

Once they got to the entrance, Blue put Aster back down and he pushed the door open. Aster continued walking with Blue, now she had put her arm around him for support. Outside the building, the spectators were still gathered and they looked over Aster and Blue in shock. Aster noticed that the Hell's Rejects had left _heh, probably ashamed some nobody newcomers beat them…_ and Czar made his way over to them. He clapped his hands together, smiling proudly down at them. "Well done! Well done!" He said, patting Aster on the back- causing a new wave of pain to shoot through her that she hoped didn't show on her face. She was not so lucky as Czar laughed, "Took a beating, huh? Hey, as long as you win, who cares?" Some of the nearby vampires laughed, though Aster was pretty sure they were just laughing at her pain.

"Your Excellency, not to be rude, but can we leave now? I think I need to rest." Aster said, holding an arm over her stomach- though the wound had closed, it was still quite painful and her body screamed for her to lay down and rest. Czar waved them off with a smile, "Very well, go rest. I'm sure I will be calling on you two soon to help me out." Nodding, Blue and Aster made their way over to Blue's bike and he offered Aster a ride, which she happily accepted. She got on the back of the bike after him, wrapping her arms around him to stay on and he drove to her tattoo shop.

The shop was still open but it seemed to be empty- no surprise, it was getting really early in the morning. Aster could see Needles from the shop windows as they pulled up. Blue stopped his bike close to the door and hopped off, helping Aster off the bike. As soon as Blue opened the door, Needles looked up from his phone and gasped, rushing over to Blue and Aster.

"Woah, woah, woah, what happened? Is she okay? How's she get so hurt? Oh shit. This is bad."

Aster held up her hand, looking at him and said, "Holy shit, Needles, shut up. I'm fine, just a bit banged up. I just need to rest." She pushed away from Blue and made her way towards the stairs. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs, turning back around for a moment and smiling at Blue, "Hey, thanks for helping me out today, man. I owe you." She said.

Blue smiled back at her and nodded, "It's no problem but yeah, you owe me." And he turned, walking out of the shop. Aster pulled herself up the stairs, collapsing onto her bed. She reached out weakly, grabbing a cigarette from her pack and lighting it. She inhaled it deeply and sighed- she hated it when she was right sometimes. It was a hell of a night.


End file.
